When will this tournament start?I plan to have the first round start at 9:15 am sharp (yes, I will start reading without you if you haven't contacted me letting me know you'll be late). You will lose the arriving on time discount if you do not check in with me by 9:00 am. Check-in will be in 114 DKH.

Who can play this tournament?Anyone who meets the ACF rules for eligible players (you must submit a packet if required; see the original ACF Regionals announcement for more details)

All other ACF discounts will be honored (such as the -$25 for new to ACF teams).

Contact InformationIf you wish to attend this tournament, or if you have any questions about it, you can e-mail the Tournament Director, me, at martinc0711@gmail.com or the Assistant TD, Billy Busse, at busse4@illinois.edu. Please inform us as to the number of teams, buzzers, and moderators you intend to bring, as well as whether or not you believe you qualify for the travel discount.

Periodic updates will be made (as necessary). For a list of teams intending on attending, see the post below this one.

*You can still obtain this discount if you call me before the start of the tournament with a good reason (i.e., your car broke down) for why you're late.**If you are sending multiple teams from one school, you won't be eligible for this discount.***If finances are an issue, contact me and we'll work something out.

Only 7 teams have registered for this tournament as of today. Since this tournament is less than 4 weeks away, I strongly hope that people will register in the next week or so so I can get a better handle on if I need to find outside moderators and other logistical issues.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

The site we attend will depend on how many teams we are bringing, so if another team scraps together and writes up a packet, please put down OSU as being interested in attending with 2 teams. Otherwise, if we only have one, we'll be going to Buffalo because of the allure of free lodging.

I would really like this tournament to end no later than 6 pm, but in order for that to happen with 20 teams, I will need outside staffers. Please consider bringing a staffer with you for a $10* moderator discount and faster rounds. We provide lunch (and dinner, if necessary) to all staffers.

*If it really becomes necessary that we need outside staff, I will consider increasing this discount or paying the staffer.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

Papa's in the House wrote:Michigan, Kansas State, and Lawrence, can you please confirm the number of teams you are bringing to this mirror. I would very much like to determine if I should consider bringing in outside staff.

Papa's in the House wrote:Michigan, Kansas State, and Lawrence, can you please confirm the number of teams you are bringing to this mirror. I would very much like to determine if I should consider bringing in outside staff.

It looks like we will have enough to send two teams from K-State, but we're still waiting on a couple of members' work and class schedules. By the way, what is going on that weekend that has all the hotels filled up?

Ben DetrixheGeography B.S., History minorKansas State University '13 Clifton-Clyde High School '09

Papa's in the House wrote:Michigan, Kansas State, and Lawrence, can you please confirm the number of teams you are bringing to this mirror. I would very much like to determine if I should consider bringing in outside staff.

Dominator wrote:Is there still room in this field. I may know of a team that would like to play.

Yes, actually. Please have that team send me an email tomorrow with buzzers and staffers they are bringing and a cell phone number of at least one member on that team (in case of emergency, I would like to be able to contact them).

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

Dominator wrote:Is there still room in this field. I may know of a team that would like to play.

Yes, actually. Please have that team send me an email tomorrow with buzzers and staffers they are bringing and a cell phone number of at least one member on that team (in case of emergency, I would like to be able to contact them).

Nevermind. A clarification from the IHSA indicates that its member schools may not compete against colleges. Sorry.

Dr. Noah Prince

Normal Community High School (2002)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2004)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2007)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2008)

Dominator wrote:Is there still room in this field. I may know of a team that would like to play.

Yes, actually. Please have that team send me an email tomorrow with buzzers and staffers they are bringing and a cell phone number of at least one member on that team (in case of emergency, I would like to be able to contact them).

Nevermind. A clarification from the IHSA indicates that its member schools may not compete against colleges. Sorry.

I thought IHSA notably approved of this. Did they reverse their rules?

Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08"I won't say more because I know some of you parse everything I say." - Jeremy Gibbs

"At one TJ tournament the neg prize was the Hampshire College ultimate frisbee team (nude) calender featuring one Evan Silberman. In retrospect that could have been a disaster." - Harry White

If a 15 team tournament is run, a RR will be played and 2-3 packets will be left for finals. If there are 3 packets, ties will be played off to the best extent possible (hopefully half-packets will not need to be used). If there are 2 packets, PPG will be used to break ties (since all teams will face common opponents).

If an 18 team tournament is run, 2 brackets of 9 will be rebracketed into 3 brackets of 6 (prelim performance carries over) for a total of 12 rounds. Ties will be played off for finals berths.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

Dominator wrote:Is there still room in this field. I may know of a team that would like to play.

Yes, actually. Please have that team send me an email tomorrow with buzzers and staffers they are bringing and a cell phone number of at least one member on that team (in case of emergency, I would like to be able to contact them).

Nevermind. A clarification from the IHSA indicates that its member schools may not compete against colleges. Sorry.

I thought IHSA notably approved of this. Did they reverse their rules?

They're changing interpretations and stuff. There will probably be something about this in the Illinois subforum when things become clearer (hopefully by the end of this week).

With 14 teams, we will run 2 brackets of 7 teams for prelims. We will rebracket into 6/4/4 in the afternoon. Prelim matches against opponents in your playoff brackets do not carry over. Ties will be played off when they matter (i.e., if 2 teams are tied for 3rd, we will play the tie off; but if 2 teams are tied for 2nd, the team with the higher PPG* will receive the higher seed). Finals will be played as necessary.

If you have questions, please email me. If you are attending this tournament and would like my phone number to get a hold of me in case of emergency, please see any email I have sent you.

*I'm using PPG because each team in a bracket will have played common opponents.

Is it correct that each team will play only 6 + 3 games?I like quizbowl, and those figures seem a bit low, especially considering the number of packets that you presumably will have from ACF.I would be grateful if you could consider a format that would allow more games.

Thanks!

Daichi - Walter Johnson; Vanderbilt; U of Chicago.Daichi's Law of High School Quizbowl: the frequency of posting in the Quizbowl Resource Center is proportional to the likelihood of being overrated.

Is it correct that each team will play only 6 + 3 games?I like quizbowl, and those figures seem a bit low, especially considering the number of packets that you presumably will have from ACF.I would be grateful if you could consider a format that would allow more games.

Your R right. Since I would prefer to avoid byes* in the afternoon, prelim games will not carry over to playoffs (6 prelim games + 5 playoff games in top bracket; 6 prelim games + 3 playoff games in bottom brackets). The lower brackets will play a second playoff round against the team that was not in their morning bracket to reach 11 games.

*That said, if a majority of teams do not mind byes in the playoffs, I will run two consecutive 2x7 brackets where the top 3 teams from each bracket, plus the highest 4th seed by PPB, make the top bracket. This will guarantee all teams 12 games, but it will be a long day.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

As the team that will be travelling the farthest, K-State avidly supports any format that will guarantee 11 matches in the fewest possible rounds. We will be leaving within an hour and expect to be in around 10:00.

I am very glad that we will get to send two teams. Props to Charles for all the extra work he has done with the late changes he has had to account for from K-State and other teams.

Ben DetrixheGeography B.S., History minorKansas State University '13 Clifton-Clyde High School '09

The third alternative is 2x7 into 8/6 where the top bracket gets 13 games in 14 rounds and the bottom bracket gets 11 games in 12 rounds, but I prefer 2x7 into 6/4/4 for a variety of reasons. If you care to hear them, please PM me.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

If you're wondering why there are 2 UIUC ACF Regionals stats pages on the Tournament DB, that is because the stats found here represent the stats of a tossups only scrimmage between members of the ABT on the ACF Regionals packets played Friday night. Practice 1 was every man for himself (for the most part) with the game between Ike and Zack not played (since we only had 7 packets at the time). Practice 2 was every player playing with every other player at least once and playing against other random pairs of doubles. You can see how this worked in the attached document.

As Dayne mentioned, Chicago A won this tournament after starting finals with a disadvantage. I want to thank all the teams that attended and congratulate them on their performance. We even had 4 teams from a completely new quiz bowl program, Purdue, that I hope to see at future tournaments. If you did not get me a check at the tournament, please email me to get my address so you know where to send your check.

As with any tournament, this one could not have run without staff. I would like to thank (in no particular order): Mike Sorice, Ike Jose, Dayne Rogers, Will Alexander, Chinmay Kansara, Tom Brown, Austin Listerud, Zack Moser, Greg Baboukis, and Billy Busse for staffing our ACF Regionals mirror. Without their competent moderating/scorekeeping skills this tournament would not have finished nearly as quickly as it did.

I would, however, like to take a moment to point out one problem I saw today that I believe needs to be adjusted. I witnessed and received reports from several people that certain quiz bowlers were intolerable at various points throughout the day. I would like to apologize to the players that suffered through these players' behavior and, to the new players that I saw at this tournament, let you know that not all quiz bowlers act this way.

Digression aside, I hope everyone enjoyed this tournament. I know I had a blast moderating for teams and was quite happy to see new quiz bowlers getting stuff they knew.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

Papa's in the House wrote:I would, however, like to take a moment to point out one problem I saw today that I believe needs to be adjusted. I witnessed and received reports from several people that certain quiz bowlers were intolerable at various points throughout the day. I would like to apologize to the players that suffered through these players' behavior and, to the new players that I saw at this tournament, let you know that not all quiz bowlers act this way.

Yeah, I too hope the people you did not remotely identify stop doing the mysterious behavior you have left entirely unspecified! Hopefully this is just the wake up call they need.